Shearing dileama

Last year was the first time we sheared ourselves. I bought a video on it and thought ..."I can do this !" Oh, no ; our sheep had other ideas. It may be because they are Jacob sheep, or our lack of finnesse , but we literally had to almost lay down on them to hold them. I tried the "sit on the butt " hold first . It was like holding bucking broncos! Every which way we turned , it was ripping out my shoulders to hold onto them. Even our 4-H ext. man said they don't allow Jacob sheep to be used in their programs because they can't be sheared.

Does anyone here have similar experiences , or any good ideas on what to do THIS year ?
Thanks,
Sherry

Sorry, no experience of Jacob sheep but generally speaking once you get them into the sitting on butt position do not hold on to any legs or head of the sheep, just lean her back and stop her from rolling by allowing her to rest between you knees.

Our personal solution to this problem was, we bought one of those sheep tables with the pole on the end to hold their head, the kind you can crank up & down. We got it used, for $100. Best hundred bucks I ever spent. We don't have Jacobs, but we have a few Shetland crosses that are very wild. Even the worst ones stood still once we had their heads tied into the "holder" and got them cranked up. It takes longer to shear that way, but since we are "old folks" at least we didn't kill ourselves trying to catch and hold those critters !!! We at the same time also bought a "cradle", a device that you flip them backwards into it, it holds them on their backs leaning against a fence, with their bellies exposed and feet sticking up. We don't have to use it too often, but it really helps with the wild ones, for foot trimming and/or shots.